Exploring Belonging and interconnections: Narratives from the Indian Diaspora

The Indian diaspora estimated at 17.5 million is one of the largest in the world (UN Report, 2019). Skilled Indians were invited to fill gaps in the labour market in Europe and the U.S.A. from the beginning of the second millennium. A psychosocial perspective on the Indian diaspora, from Denmark and the U.S.A, is the focus of this paper. The theoretical frameworks include diasporic subjective processes of dispersal, connectedness (Dufoix, 2008) and processes of multiple inclusion/exclusion and ambivalence about belonging (Kalra, 2005), along with the life-course perspective (Levy, 2005). Transnational linkages between India (desh) and the Indian diaspora abroad (videsh) are explored. The empirical cases (Singla, 2008; Singla, 2015; Sriram, 2014) are based on qualitative in-depth interviews with families and young people and diasporic couples in exogamous marriages. Some current transformations, especially related to digital interconnections are also included. The narratives indicate changing paradigms about India, multiple belongings, differential engagement in the receiving society and India related to generational and couple formation patterns. There is a nuanced understanding of belongings and marginalities of Indian diasporics through multiple belongings involving “emotional citizenship”, ongoing negotiations at diverse levels, virtual interconnections and exclusion from various groups in the country of origin and the host country. Suggestions for promoting interconnections, communication and linkages between the Indian diaspora and India are delineated.